...currently consisting of three members. Haha. Anyway, I figured we could post reviews and news here, since we're allowed to talk about anything. I just found a cool article this morning.

Evanescence Rocks on as Epic Tour Winds Down

Evanescence's current tour began in October. Not last month. October 2006. Frontwoman Amy Lee and her hard-rock band come to the McKay Events Center in Orem tonight on the last leg of their world tour. They've been to 19 European countries and nearly every continent, yet Lee told The Salt Lake Tribune that Utah is one of their "top five" places to play. "We've had some of our best shows here," Lee said. "These are the kids who don't get rock shows every weekend. They save their energy for us. . . . The town's boring enough. They need something to rebel against." Lee then laughed. "We're coming to save the day," she said. Lee can afford to laugh, after all the angst she's endured since "Bring Me to Life" became one of the most omnipresent songs of 2003 and '04. (Other Evanescence songs that dominated radio are the slower "My Immortal" and "Broken," along with the latest album's angry kiss-off song, "Call Me When You're Sober.") First, during the band's first European tour in 2003, co-founder Ben Moody left. In the years since, the Evanescence lineup has changed so many times that Lee is the only remaining original member. The band has had to finish up its tour with two members of Dark New Day, drummer Will Hunt and guitarist Troy McLawhorn, as temporary replacements. Lee hinted that she'd be glad if they remained, although she acknowledged the supergroup Dark New Day is Hunt and McLawhorn's "baby." "We all hang out as friends," she said. "That's what it should be. . . . I can't imagine looking for other members." Lee said that when the tour ends in December, she plans to take a long time off and spend it with her husband of six months. She has no plans on when she'll resume recording new material. "Timelines mess up your writing," she said.

I liked the title, since their record label is Wind-Up Records. I don't think it was intentional,, but it's kind of cool.

ha yeah! lolz! hey i think that Amy Lee has a myspace....what do u all think? i have her on my personal and on my 50 Thousand Tears fansite on myspace......and it says that its the real her...what do u all think? would she get a myspace after so many times of sayin i hate myspace.....or her man Josh is letting her give it a whirl?

She doesn't. They're all imposter pages. I believe her response was something along the lines of 'Hell no! Everyone has a Myspace, but I have this board!' or something when a member asked her on EvBoard like a year ago. There's so many of them, though. She's popular. Report it here: http://www.evthreads.com/showthread.php ... 7s+Myspace There's even one claiming to be Amy's real MySpace that says she and Joshie are separated because they wanted time away from each other, when we've seen recent pics with Amy and Josh together and Josh with the band. So, yeah, it's fake.

There's a really recent interview [I think it was in the last week] with Troy [new guitarist] where he speaks about his experience about touring with Ev, and what the chances are of him and Will staying, which is really awesome just because it's not an Amy interview:

How did you feel the first time you got to play with Evanescence?I was really ancious actually, we had very few days to learn the songs and rehearsed them before the first show.

How was that you guys got called to play with the band?We were referred by a producer that was a friend of ours and from Evanescence's manager, then their manager mentioned us, and we had already met Amy some time ago and had seen us play, so they called us, and the rest is history as they say.

What's your favorite Evanescence song?That's actually really hard to say, I really like Lithium, its one of my favorites. this could sound typical but it kinda reminds me of a modernized riff from Ozzy's old material "Diary of A Mad Man".

Whats the song that you enjoy playing live the most?I really love playing Whisper and Your Star live.

Are you and Will thinking about staying as permanent members on Ev?That's something that hasn't been discussed yet, but I would definitely be willing to consider it if that's something that the band is interested in. [Heck, yes, Troy, they are!]

If you stay in the band, will you keep doing the different solos in Going Under and Haunted?Of course, I actually play them a little different in every show, but that's something that the band really likes. Amy told me that I could have fun with the solos in the songs and do whatever I want with them.

Would you like to appear on an Evanescence video?Of course, it would be really cool to have something like that, so when i get old i could watch it and remember, that way i'd be telling my son: "look at that, your dad really knows how to rock!"

Has something changed in your life since you joined the band?Not really, I've been playing and touring for a lot of time now. Though I've never been in Europe before, and Evanescence took me there, its been a wonderful year and i wouldn't change anything about it.

If you dont get to stay in Evanescence, what would you take with you after this experience?That I made 3 incredible new friends.

What's the funniest thing that has happened to you while on this tour?I fell asleep in the front room from our tour bus in Europe and they took pictures of me while I was holding a puffy animal and putting my hands in really vulgar places.

How old were you when you started playing guitar?Like 13 or 14.

Do you know anything about Venezuela? Would you like to play here someday?I don't know much about it but i would love to play there.

And this cracked me up. it's hilarious, the guy obviously didn't do his research at all.

One Constant Voice in the Ever-evolving EvanescenceBy Patrick MacDonaldSeattle Times Music Critic

Singer Amy Lee co-founded Evanescence as a teenager and has since weathered (and/or affected) plenty of changes in the band's members and its music.

Concert Preview

Evanescence is not really a rock band. It's essentially a solo singer, Amy Lee, backed onstage and in the recording studio by an ever-changing lineup of musicians who come and go at her whim.

It's been that way ever since Lee, 25, a self-absorbed singer/songwriter/pianist in the Alanis Morissette mode, started imagining herself as a rock singer in a band called Evanescence (which means "to dissipate like vapor," according to Webster's), and writing songs for it when she was just 14.

When Evanescence, playing Wednesday at WaMu, broke big out of Arkansas in 2003 via its debut album, "Fallen," it identified itself as a Christian rock band. Its initial success was propelled by radio play on Christian rock stations, big sales in Christian stores and fawning profiles in Christian rock magazines.

But when "Fallen" yielded two big hits, "Bring Me to Life" and "My Immortal," taking Evanescence into the pop mainstream, Lee reneged on the Christian angle and fired guitarist Ben Moody, a self-identified Christian, who had founded the band with her when both were teenagers.

With the firing of Moody, Evanescence became a Christian-music outcast, with most Christian rock stations banning the band from its playlists, and Christian stores and media following suit.

You can't blame them, because they could hardly play some of Lee's later, more mature material, like Evanescence's most recent radio hit, "Call Me When You're Sober," a blistering attack on ex-boyfriend Shaun Morgan of the band Seether. The song is from Evanescence's long-awaited second album, "The Open Door," which is mostly about her soured relationship with Morgan (he has answered back with "Breakdown," a song on Seether's new CD, "Finding Beauty in Negative Spaces").

Typically, the musicians who made "The Open Door" with Lee are not the same ones touring with her. The current lineup on the road: guitarist Troy McLawhorn (replacing John LeCompt), bassist Tim McCord (replacing Will Boyd), drummer Will Hunt (replacing Rocky Gray) and one holdout, guitarist Terry Balsamo.

-----------------

First it really ticked me off, but now it's just funny. He gives journalism a bad name. And the really funny thing is he gave out his e-mail, and he's gotten loads of nasty e-mails from EvThreads members.

Then there's a positive concert review from last night's show.

Amy Lee is intense.It's been well publicized that many of the songs written by the Evanescence lead singer deal with personal trials and tribulations in her life. And when it comes time to deliver those songs live in concert, she sings with such emotion and intensity that it's like someone surrounded the stage with pictures of her ex-boyfriends, bandmates and anyone else who was the inspiration for those songs.

Friday night in Orem, Lee pumped her fist, twirled her body and used her powerful voice to belt out 90 minutes of music covering Evanescence's first three albums.

Wearing a purple tank, black skirt and black boots, Lee seemed to stumble a bit out of the starting blocks, mostly because of a weak vocal mix, but firmly owned the crowd by the fourth song, "Going Under."

"We've never come here and not been completely motivated by you guys," she said. "For some reason, you guys go off every time. Maybe it's something in the water."

Lee's voice was CD quality as her melodic tones combined with the dual crunching guitars of Troy McLawhorn and Terry Balsamo on songs like "Call Me When You're Sober," (one of the best and most intense songs of the night) "Whisper," "Haunted" and "Imaginary."

The audience of a couple of thousand fans had their arms shaking in unison for "Bring Me to Life," the band's first breakthrough hit. Although the song is done now with strictly Lee's vocals (the male singing parts of "Wake me up!" "Can't wake up!" have been taken out) it was still one of the highlights of the set.Lee, who studied classical piano for nine years, also had several chances to show off her playing abilities. A baby grand piano was brought on stage for "Missing," ("By request for a lot of old school Evanescence fans," she said) "Lithium" and the current single "Good Enough," a song Lee played solo without any drum or guitar backing. It's also one of the few "life isn't so bad" songs Lee was inspired to write by the man who would later become her husband.

The piano was brought back on stage for crowd favorite "My Immortal."

"Everyone complained we took it out of the set. So you better sing along because I'm not doing it myself," the good natured Lee chided the crowd before starting the song.

The crowd, a really diverse mix of young and old fans who also seemed to have very different musical tastes outside of their joint liking of Evanescence, responded with a loud sing-along in a glowing sea of cell phones.

The banded ended the main set with "Lacrymosa" followed by "Understanding" and "Your Star" for the encore. Overall a satisfying concert from a woman who doesn't short change anyone by not giving each song 110 percent.

The rocking, You Tube phenom trio "Sick Puppies" started off bland and sounded like countless groups destined to go nowhere. But after playing samples of songs by artists such as Muse, the Puppies showed their bark and launched into some decent songs of their own. By the end, wound-up frontman Shimon Moore had the entire arena pogo-sticking in unison.

Julien-K is the side project of Orgy's Amir Derakh and Ryan Shuck. Their synthesizer, techno-heavy set was a cross between Depeche Mode and, well, Orgy. Despite the one man who appeared to get into an argument with lead singer Shuck at the end, most of the fans seemed to really enjoy their set. Although their sound was vastly different from Evanescence, these guys have the potential to make some noise in the music scene.

-------------I left the Sick Puppies thing in because they're awesome, or at least their one song is. They're really hard to google though; you get pictures & articles of sick puppies instead.

Their concert that was supposed to be tomorrow in Colorado was canceled 'cause 2+ members were sick. Since it's more than one member [Amy...she's sick the most, or at least she's the most obvious] I'm assuming it's food poisoning. Since Amy says she usually cooks when they don't eat at hotel/fast food place/other restaurant, I'll bet Amy sabatoged them 'cause...she didn't want to have to handle anymore money in their bank account than there already is. That was a joke. But it really is canceled.EDIT: This is from a mod's post on the Ev''s message board about it: "Several members of Evanescence have come down with a severe stomach flu and are receiving medical attention. Because of this, we regret to inform you that tonight’s show in Denver has been cancelled. Please contact Ticketmaster for refund inquiries. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused. The band is very disappointed by this and hopes to see everyone in Denver very soon."Sounds like it was just postponed. Wow, I was right. I feel psychic. Sucks for both the band and the people in Colorado though. Stomach flu sucks soooo bad...and Amy's performed when she was about to fall over before, so they must be really sick to need medical treatment [although that might just be because they need to get better fast so they don't cancel another show because of it] and cancel a show. EDIT2: Ahh. That's so scary- it's so bad they need to be hospitalized. Poor Tim/Terry/Amy/Will/Troy/whoever it is who's sick.They're not resceduling, unsurprisingly. It's totally cancelled. Just came across this: DENVER - The Evanescence concert scheduled for Sunday night at Magness Arena was canceled because of some sick band members.

9NEWS Entertainment Reporter Kirk Montgomery has learned two members of the tour were taken to Porter Hospital with flu-like symptoms. Kirk says "many others" involved with the show were also complaining of flu-like symptoms but were not hospitalized.

EDIT3: Wow, yay for updates. Amy just posted on Evthreads this morning. The thread titled 'a whole lot of barfin goin on' and here's her post: Hey guys. I've been wanting to write a new blog about how great the shows have been on this tour and how much fun we've been having, but I guess I waited one day too long because I've never seen this many people sick on tour at once! About half of the Evanescence band and crew have a terrible stomach virus and we had to cancel our show in Denver today. I am SO sorry to all of the fans who wanted to see us play tonight, and hope you understand that we would never have canceled if it was in any way possible for us to play. The shows so far have been really beautiful- the fans have been amazing and I just want to thank you for some concert moments that we will remember for the rest of our lives. We have the day off tomorrow and then plan to continue with the tour as planned, I'm sure everyone will feel better after these 2 days of rest. Thank you for understanding, we'll see you on the road!love,amy

ps- i saw the new music video- hillarious! Beth and I laughed pretty hard.

So I'm assuming it isn't Amy who's sick, which leaves Terry, Tim, Troy, and Will. And, of course, the rest of their crew. Good to have an update from an inside source, though.

EDIT?: Forgot which number, not bothering to check. But Troy's wife Amy [not Amy Lee] just posted with the story: 'It is definitely a stomach virus...several people were taken to the hospital for fluids and such and the doctors confirmed it. Because they live in such close quaters on the buses, these things spread like wildfire. It started for some in the morning, and progressed from there. They didn't want to cancel prematurely, which accounts for the late cancellation. They are now enjoying some much needed rest (and private bathrooms) for a day off. Let's hope no more people come down with it and that they can press on.

Sorry to all of those people that missed the show! They were disappinted about having to cancel, but it isn't something you can play through. A cold, yes...sinus crud, yes...stomach flu, no. Eww!' and about the name thing: 'Yes, Mrs. McLawhorn is also named Amy. Poor Troy...Two Amy's to answer to. He should get a medal.

But, now that I think about it, it was silly of me to assume Ben was, indeed, talking to me! You know, everytime I'm out with the band and someone screams, "AMYYYYY" I still turn around, like they're accutally talking to me. Everytime it happens I think, "Is there someone here that I know? Cool!". Then I remember I'm with a famous person and I'm hurled back into reality! Ha!' and another on the sickies: 'Yeah, it's [the tour bus] pretty much a breeding ground...kind of like a daycare or pre-school. Dirty little rock stars! and another: 'Okay, folks...here goes...

Terry was the first to get sick. Then came Rafa (a videographer on the road with them), then came a member of Julien K, then came several members of the Ev road crew, then came Ritchie, then came Troy (although, not as severe), then came someone from Sick Puppies (the guitar player, I think). This all took place over the course of a few of days. That's the list as I know it. Amy was NOT sick with the stomach virus (thus far) but she has been battling a cold, so think about that the next time you want to hug and kiss her...she gets her germs from the fans, so hands off! Ha! Will was NOT sick with the virus (not sure where you got that Spirithawk, but Will has been fine so far).

So, I hope that clears things up. Ritchie has been VERY protective of Amy lately with hugging, kissing, etc. so please don't be offended if he holds you at bay. He's just trying to protect her health. After all, it is cold and flu season and no one wants any more cancelled shows, right? She hates to say no to you guys, so make it easier for her and just don't ask.

At this point, everyone seems to be on the mend and is getting healthy, but you never know what might come up...get it...come up. Ha! Ok, bad puking joke. Sorry.'

_________________All of my work is made using various online editorsThanks to Black_Angel for my avvie! =)

Last edited by Larki2 on Sun Dec 09, 2007 7:40 pm, edited 1 time in total.

It's the last day of the Open Door tour today, they're ending it in Kingston, Rhode Island...and Amy posted for us: You have all been so wonderful to me, and to all of us. It is absolutely true that this tour would have ended long ago if it weren't for all of the fans. I don't know if you realize how hard it is to successfully tour these days, but many people are being forced to cancel their tours. We, because of you, are one of the very lucky and fortunate few who have never been in that position. You have come to see us play, most of you multiple times, and some of you have traveled extremely long distances to see the show. The fact that we are a rock band, over a year after our album's release, finishing out on an arena tour is nothing short of a miracle. There have been thrilling and beautiful times in the past year, and also some painful, hard times. In the end I know it was all for good, and I am completely grateful that everything happened the way it did. Life throws you all kinds of things you could never expect. Sometimes I find myself looking back at the past few years and laughing at how crazy this whole thing is (how did I get HERE??) and wondering what my life would be like if music hadn't won my heart...well ok, thats almost impossible to imagine. If this band hadn't been formed though- would I be teaching music in a high school? Always wishing I'd broke through, going to concerts on the weekend going, "I could do that!..." I am so blessed. And I am very grateful to all of you for hearing me, for letting me into your lives and for loving music. This last day of tour is of course a happy day, were all excited to see our families and move back into our homes, but it is bittersweet. This is the end of another chapter in our lives, one that we will never EVER forget. I will love and miss my wonderful crew, who are the absolute BEST, and I wish all of them happiness and good gigs for next year and beyond. And of course, my band, who are some of the most talented people I've ever known. (I'm sure I'll get all sappy and cry on you after the show tonight but just in case you have too much eggnog to remember, I want all four of you to know that I love you. You inspire me to be a better musician and it has been pure pleasure playing with you every night. Will and Troy- I am so excited for the new DND album! It sounds amazing and you deserve great success and respect for your art. Thank you guys for saving me! Tim, I'm gonna miss you so much. Your contribution to the band has been so good on so many levels. I am SO lucky to have found you! And Terry, I think we may have seen it all through the Open Door. From sunrise epiphanies in Calabasas to purgatory in the ICU, to playing with Iron Maiden at Donnington, to our first grammy nomination together. Congratulations, T. You deserve it.) Thank you fans who brought us love and presents last week! I freaking LOVE the cupcake cookbook and plan on making some TOMORROW! Ok, I'm done cheesing out now. I love you guys very much and hope we meet again soon! Thank you for everything.love,amy

[Her post almost made me cry, but everything after 'I'm sure I'll get sappy...' made me grin]So now we have the possible rarities album and possible DVD to look forward to, and new songs like "Together Again", "Catherine" and "If You Don't Mind" to bug the band members about, and nag for them to release the third album [they're signed on for either a three album contract or a six album, we're not sure]. Plus, as Carmello @ Evthreads so tactfully put it, we're 'the best damn Evanescence fans on the planet!!!', and we should 'stop all this depressed-ness and look back at all the great stuff Ev has done and rock out like they expect us to!!!' And, on a me note, if they take three years to release this next album, I'll be able to see them in concert if the touring schedule is similiar to the Open Door's. [I'll be 16 when it's released, it takes two years to get all the way around the world, I'll be eighteen and I can go! Yay me!!!]And apparently Tim's Sharpie he uses to sign stuff says 'I stole this Sharpie from Evanescence' and he gave it to a fan. Amy wore a Santa hat someone threw on stage until it fell off during Lacrymosa when she headbanged, and they had a group hug at the end of the concert. And Amy was druuuuunk afterwards [she came out around 1:30 am, probably after their party]: 'Half an hour later, Amy came out of the venue...supported by about three people. It was HILARIOUS - she was extremely drunk but she saw us and her face lit up and she tried to walk to us...but her friends were half-carrying her and they just pulled her to the bus. That was highly entertaining. Ten minutes later, Josh came out to say hello to us and Amy came back out soon after - walking on her own and looking pretty normal. Still drunk, and very talkative...Mike asked her if we would be seeing her anytime soon and she was like "No! Hope you enjoyed this!" Heh.

Once it was my turn, I told her that I had gifts for her, Will and Troy, and she was like "Okay! Me, Will and Troy?" and I was like "yeah, they're labeled" (which they were; in nice big silver Sharpie ), and she was like "okay!" And then I was like "oh yeah, and apparently you kind of owe me a job, because me and Rockharpered made that thread on EvClub..." (meaning the Meeting the Band for Dummies thread; she saw it and loved it and was like 'do you guys want a job?' lol). And then I realized that I hadn't told her who I was because my brain was half-dead, so I was like 'oh right, I'm Katya on there' and she was like 'OOOH YEAAAH' and started laughing; I laughed, too and said we thought it was really funny. Then I decided to be lame and asked for a hug, so she gave me one. And she was a LOT warmer than the rest of us and I said so and she was like 'haha yeah...' She does give good hugs, though Haha.

My other friends gave Amy the cupcakes they'd brought and she was like "Do you want me to sign this?" and we were like "nooo these are for you!" "THEY'RE FOR ME?!" lmfao. Ooh drunken Amy Tara had Amy sign her face as a joke, which we all thought was really funny (I teased her about being a fangirl and she was like 'HEY why not?' lol)' [[posted by Katya @ Evthreads]]

_________________All of my work is made using various online editorsThanks to Black_Angel for my avvie! =)

Balsamo rocks so hard, his prolific head-banging eventually gave him a stroke that almost ended his career.

And that's no pp.

To get medical on this, Balsamo's rock whiplash took him through bands like Limp Bizkit and Cold on his way to a co-starring role in Evanescence. Night after night, he banged his head on stage until one morning, he simply woke up with a blood clot lodged in an artery in his neck.

(Kind of makes you wonder if Jason Newstead keeps a medic nearby.)

Balsamo lost feeling in the left side of his body, and was told he would likely never play guitar again. It was a real pain in the neck for the guy who had just agreed to shoulder the heaviest expectations in the world - crafting the follow-up to 2003's Fallen, which has sold 15 million copies worldwide and cemented Evanescence's breakthrough status at the top of the rock charts. (Fallen actually rode the Billboard charts for more than 100 weeks).

But Balsamo rallied, and Evanescence's sophomore release, The Open Door, weighed in at the top of the charts, moving a half a mill during its first week of sales. "Ben Moody who?" was the cry from rock radio jocks across the land, as The Open Door offered blunt proof that piano princess Amy Lee has found a worthy songwriting partner to forge the future success of Evanescence.

Still, nothing that's any good ever comes easily. Balsamo missed his initial interview with ec/dc because he was hospitalized with a wicked flu while touring last Tuesday in Colorado.

The band had to cancel a show, but fear not. Balsamo quickly returned our call Wednesday and promised, "the band will be in full swing by the time we get over to Wilkes-Barre."

Oh, and the opening act? Sick Puppies, of course.

How are you, man?We're good. Everything's OK now. We're pulling into the venue in Illinois right now. I was the only one who got sick really bad, and I'm still feeling the remains of it. It's like that first day ... you just start throwing up and you can't stop.

Don't rockstars have some secret cures for these bugs? You know, the show must go on?Well, usually we just get a cold or something. I dont know if it's right, but you just kind of drink through these things. You do a shot or two of something before the show, you know, to loosen you up. But when you can't stop throwing up, there's not much you can do about it.

Have you fully recovered from your stroke?No. I'm probably between 75 and 80 percent there. The whole paralysis thing is the biggest issue. As far as the artery, that's healed 100 percent. I mean, I'm back out there doin' the same pp that caused it basically.

Come on.I am. It's not as violent, but it's like, I have Angus Young tattooed on my arm. I'm like - what about Angus? I guess you could say I'm slightly chilled out.

How did you put out this record being basically incapacitated?That was the good thing. We had already written everything, and I had finished all the guitar tracks on a Saturday and then I had the stroke that Monday. It was actually great timing. I actually recovered in time for the tour to start. I just felt like I could make it, so f*ck it. I can't do solos yet, but I'm OK.

You guys did some pre-production for that tour in Stroudsburg, no?Yeah, we did. We did stuff there a couple times, actually, at the theater.

How did you pass the time?Well, we actually went canoeing and stuff, but that was about it. There wasn't much for us to do. We spent a lot of time in one of the local diners, actually.

How does the writing process work between you and Amy?It's very different for me, because I came from the background of Cold and the other bands where band practice is showing up at 8, and then we just start jamming and we see what happens. This is different because it's basically just the two of us. Either she would come up with a vocal melody or I would come up with a riff, and we'd go from there. Someones I'd write bass parts or she'd have drum loops, too. We never really came up with a set way of what inspires us. We just do whatever works at the time.

With all the lineup changes you've been through, do you think Evanescence can ever be a "real" band?I know what you're saying. From the outside it has to look pretty ridiculous some times. Internally, it's the best it's ever been as far as everybody being here and enjoying it. There's no drama or bullshit.

Your guitar sound is just damaging. How do you do it?Thanks a lot, man. Usually I'll have a bunch of diferent amps. I don't like the common apprpach of laying down 15 guitar tracks in the studio to try and get a big sound. Why can't the sound just be good as it goes down? Mesa Boogie is always a good amp. I'll take one and blend it with a Deizel to play one track, and then I'll take a Boogie and a Bogner and mix it together. It's two tracks to get that sound.

What can we expect at this show?Man, we got a bit of everything including stuff from before the band was signed. We'll do stuff off all the recordings and more, and our stage show is just sick. We don't have no bombs or dragons or stuff, but our lighting guy has been with us on both tours and he's great. The people are diggin' it so far. I just wish I didn't have to go to the hospital that night because it's such a great production for anyone to miss.

Still feeling the pressure?Everybody talks about the pressure, because Fallen sold so many copies. That never phased us. the thought was there, but most of us were sick of hearing about it just because Ben was gone. It's not like Amy didn't do anything on Fallen. Cold didn't sell 10 million records, but we did pretty decently, you know? I just told 'em, "Hey, I know how to write a song, so f*ck off."

source:http://www.ecweekend.com/features/story.asp?id=46293

_________________All of my work is made using various online editorsThanks to Black_Angel for my avvie! =)

Balsamo rocks so hard, his prolific head-banging eventually gave him a stroke that almost ended his career.

And that's no pp.

To get medical on this, Balsamo's rock whiplash took him through bands like Limp Bizkit and Cold on his way to a co-starring role in Evanescence. Night after night, he banged his head on stage until one morning, he simply woke up with a blood clot lodged in an artery in his neck.

(Kind of makes you wonder if Jason Newstead keeps a medic nearby.)

Balsamo lost feeling in the left side of his body, and was told he would likely never play guitar again. It was a real pain in the neck for the guy who had just agreed to shoulder the heaviest expectations in the world - crafting the follow-up to 2003's Fallen, which has sold 15 million copies worldwide and cemented Evanescence's breakthrough status at the top of the rock charts. (Fallen actually rode the Billboard charts for more than 100 weeks).

But Balsamo rallied, and Evanescence's sophomore release, The Open Door, weighed in at the top of the charts, moving a half a mill during its first week of sales. "Ben Moody who?" was the cry from rock radio jocks across the land, as The Open Door offered blunt proof that piano princess Amy Lee has found a worthy songwriting partner to forge the future success of Evanescence.

Still, nothing that's any good ever comes easily. Balsamo missed his initial interview with ec/dc because he was hospitalized with a wicked flu while touring last Tuesday in Colorado.

The band had to cancel a show, but fear not. Balsamo quickly returned our call Wednesday and promised, "the band will be in full swing by the time we get over to Wilkes-Barre."

Oh, and the opening act? Sick Puppies, of course.

How are you, man?We're good. Everything's OK now. We're pulling into the venue in Illinois right now. I was the only one who got sick really bad, and I'm still feeling the remains of it. It's like that first day ... you just start throwing up and you can't stop.

Don't rockstars have some secret cures for these bugs? You know, the show must go on?Well, usually we just get a cold or something. I dont know if it's right, but you just kind of drink through these things. You do a shot or two of something before the show, you know, to loosen you up. But when you can't stop throwing up, there's not much you can do about it.

Have you fully recovered from your stroke?No. I'm probably between 75 and 80 percent there. The whole paralysis thing is the biggest issue. As far as the artery, that's healed 100 percent. I mean, I'm back out there doin' the same pp that caused it basically.

Come on.I am. It's not as violent, but it's like, I have Angus Young tattooed on my arm. I'm like - what about Angus? I guess you could say I'm slightly chilled out.

How did you put out this record being basically incapacitated?That was the good thing. We had already written everything, and I had finished all the guitar tracks on a Saturday and then I had the stroke that Monday. It was actually great timing. I actually recovered in time for the tour to start. I just felt like I could make it, so f*ck it. I can't do solos yet, but I'm OK.

You guys did some pre-production for that tour in Stroudsburg, no?Yeah, we did. We did stuff there a couple times, actually, at the theater.

How did you pass the time?Well, we actually went canoeing and stuff, but that was about it. There wasn't much for us to do. We spent a lot of time in one of the local diners, actually.

How does the writing process work between you and Amy?It's very different for me, because I came from the background of Cold and the other bands where band practice is showing up at 8, and then we just start jamming and we see what happens. This is different because it's basically just the two of us. Either she would come up with a vocal melody or I would come up with a riff, and we'd go from there. Someones I'd write bass parts or she'd have drum loops, too. We never really came up with a set way of what inspires us. We just do whatever works at the time.

With all the lineup changes you've been through, do you think Evanescence can ever be a "real" band?I know what you're saying. From the outside it has to look pretty ridiculous some times. Internally, it's the best it's ever been as far as everybody being here and enjoying it. There's no drama or bullshit.

Your guitar sound is just damaging. How do you do it?Thanks a lot, man. Usually I'll have a bunch of diferent amps. I don't like the common apprpach of laying down 15 guitar tracks in the studio to try and get a big sound. Why can't the sound just be good as it goes down? Mesa Boogie is always a good amp. I'll take one and blend it with a Deizel to play one track, and then I'll take a Boogie and a Bogner and mix it together. It's two tracks to get that sound.

What can we expect at this show?Man, we got a bit of everything including stuff from before the band was signed. We'll do stuff off all the recordings and more, and our stage show is just sick. We don't have no bombs or dragons or stuff, but our lighting guy has been with us on both tours and he's great. The people are diggin' it so far. I just wish I didn't have to go to the hospital that night because it's such a great production for anyone to miss.

Still feeling the pressure?Everybody talks about the pressure, because Fallen sold so many copies. That never phased us. the thought was there, but most of us were sick of hearing about it just because Ben was gone. It's not like Amy didn't do anything on Fallen. Cold didn't sell 10 million records, but we did pretty decently, you know? I just told 'em, "Hey, I know how to write a song, so f*ck off."

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